Pages

One of my main goals this last trip to Japan was to buy as much cute crafty stuff I could get my hands on. I think I did alright. The two main places I bought stationary and yarncraft items were both in Shinjuku: Okadaya and Tokyu Hands in the Takashimaya Times Square mall.

Finding Okadaya is pretty simple. This site here has great pictures and directions. Exit the Shinjuku Station from the East Exit. You will see the big Studio Alta building. Go down the street to the left of that and Okadaya will be right there on your left. There are two buildings across a little alley from each other with the Okadaya logo on it. One is fabric only and one has the craft stuff. If you walk into one and it has makeup stuff on the first floor, that's the crafty one you wanna be in. Check out the floor guide (it has English, too!) and pick the floor you want. I spent my time on floor five, filled with yarn, crochet and knitting books and accessories.

It was so incredibly nice up on this floor - the coziest and inviting craft shop. The music was soft, the workers were nice, and the floor was arranged in a way that you kept discovering new things on different displays or endcaps. I could have stayed there forever, but I was with other non-crafty people and my budget was running a little low (this was on one of the last days on our trip). All of the stuff pictured above was under ¥5000, though! Not bad for all of that stuff. I haven't decided what I want to do with the yarn, yet. Any suggestions?

Although I haven't posted about it much lately, my Filofax game is still strong. When I visited the stationary floor of Tokyu Hands in the Takashimaya Times Square building in Shinjuku, I knew that I would have my hands full of new tape, stickers, and pens immediately. And I did. It is pretty easy to find and to get to - you'll see the big Times Square sign from the east side of the station. Here is a map and floor guide.

How cute is all of this stuff? It was so hard to pick, trust me - all of this came to maybe ¥5000 or ¥6000. I'm happy with everything! I love love looooove the Liz Lisa tri-colored pen. The ink is so cute - I definitely will be buying more refills for it if I can find a good seller online. Also, I almost had a heart attack when I found the Zebra highlighers for more than half the price I was planning on spending on them on eBay. They're double sided! More more pictures:

This mini notebook is from the Can Do ¥100 shop that I loved to visit over in Nishi Shinjuku.

Color swatches using both the wide-edge side of the pen, as well as the thinner pointed end.

ALL the washi tape I got on this trip. I bought some at Tokyu Hands, the ¥100 shop I mentioned above, and LOFT in Shibuya.

The office supplies and stationary floor in Tokyu Hands was huge and I could have bought a ton more. There was a huge selection of cute stickers like that, tons of MT brand washi, and awesome post its. There were also a lot of other different styles of the Sliccies multi-ink pens - Hello Kitty, of course, but I saw Disney and One Piece styles, too.

Now I'm off to figure out what I want to make with my new yarn! Also - to research where I can buy more ink refills for my pen.